to the ear of the west speaks the voice of the east！what future hand is to turn the pas of knowled that cha ay read and send forth odernized relics of her arrested science and art？what she speaks for is the crub fro the loaf of educational benefactors；a penny fro the world that she ay return illions！
the library cha is the subject of y paper，for what factor uld an ore to the advancent and civilization of a untry，than these store-hoes of stiutg vos？
old chese libraries
libraries， the old chese nception，are not a novelty，but they are nsidered such fro the western pot of view． cha they ant a store-hoe where books were kept and hidden away，the a idea beg to preserve the“literary treasure”of the untry．the existence of libraries can be traced back the official rerds of early chese history． the chow dynasty，for stance，o tan，the founder of taois and the respected teacher of nfuci，served as a librarian and ctodian of the archives 553 b．c．aga，after the downfall of the first chese epire，liu pan，the founder of the han dynasty，upon his victorio entry to the capital 206 b．c．，directed his ister，hsiao ho，to llect the books and state papers fro the library and keep the a safer pce．
libaries of the present ti
sze ku，the present of national library，was odeled after that of the han dynasty．the ntents were llected for the le e of the state officials and the prces of the royal faily，and were ore or less looked up to by the public as a precio possession．it is a ost regrettable thg to rerd that，durg the boxer outbreak of 1900，any of the treasures the national library were taken by the japanese，british，french，and ran troops to their respective untries，and ore were burnt by the．
addition to the national library there are provcial libraries as well as cb and subscription libraries．the tter were established by the vario craftsn their guilds．the ctos officers al have sall libraries for the bers of their staff．oasionally， of the buddhist teples，are to be found libraries ade up rly of buddhist books and sanscrit scriptures．naturally there are private libraries for dividual e．i recall y great surprise，on visitg a very extensive private llection of ancripts of the sung dynasty，to fd that it ntaed early dical and buddhist books，old japanese folios and rare editions．
nnections with the establishnt of schools and lles，there has been a nsiderable effort to ake llections of books for their libraries．these llections have been purely acadeic，and selected for the le purpose of etg of the idiate needs of the schools．
though i uld ntion a nuber of libraries y untry，there has never been a free circutg library of any rt．the llections the provcial libraries are too one-sided and al too sall to be nsidered as state libraries；even their existence is very seldo known．the books are not to be drawn by readers，their e havg been traditionally regarded as a privile，not as a right of the people．they have，however，gone far as to stall the one-penny adission pn．apparently the founders of these stitutions have never realized the function of a public library．to y d the real odern library is not for the literati alone，not for the scientific an entirely，nor yet for the fortunate few who uld well afford to have a private llection，but should stand with open door as an stitution for self-education to tra future llns，grants，carnegies and edins．it should be a center of light to the whole unity，fro the sallest child who es to look at the pictures to the ature an lvg the probles of bess life．
cssification of books chese libraries
as to technie the chese library，there is uch to be said．all the books the state libraries are cssified the sa way as those the national library，under the follog headgs：cssics，history，philophy and belles lettres．under the head of cssics are found the books written by or about the great sas．nfuci and nci，either prone or poetry．under the history headg are the histories of cha．histories of foreign untries are entirely excded．the third group cdes philophical works，natural and cial sciences，and eful and fe arts．literature，poetry and iscelnies are entered tother，and whatever is difficult to cssify is put under the st headg，belles lettres．the adeacy of the syste of cssification can be appreciated fro this fact that the groupg is too neral．book selection，however，is careful，and neral well ade．books ntag radical ideas or critical views of the iperial governnt are rejected，not to ntion the“trashy”books and ost fiction．should an author once be ndened by the governnt，his books would not be aepted aga under any circustances，regardless of their vae and efulness．for this rean the works of any talented writers have never been aditted to the library．
the well-known cssified catalog of the chese national library，prted with critical notes，is 500 vos．the abridd edition tended for the e of the state libraries，as a guide to their llections，is prted 120 vos．
the arrannt of historical books is very difficult．the avera chese historian treats of iportant events arrand aordg to the year of the eperor who ruled．each new eperor has his own na and his own date．tis a ruler chand his na several tis durg his reign．i recall an stance where the eperor"s na was chand on one oasion becae of an earthake，and then aga becae of a fae or pgue．whenever the royal na was chand，a new date was adopted．if the historian rerded events the fifth year of the eperor，it ight be rerded as havg ourred the first year of the title“ and ，”though the eperor known by the o different nas was one and the sa pern．this freent changg of dates and nas plicates atters serioly for the student．it is difficult．if not possible，for a westerner to t an answer to a estion like this：what happened cha 1815？
the assignnt of subject headg is a serio proble to chese librarians．though we have a few tools like bun tsao gong u，“chese herbal book of nature，”；dze woo sze tu w，“nad and pictures of vetables，”；san tsai tu huei，“pictorial book of nature”；er yah，“ready guide”etc．，we greatly need aids religio，dical，legal，and scientific subjects．there is no standardization of ters chese．any siple words，as dtry，liberty，girl，etc．，have four or five ters to terpret the，and one ter is as uch ed as another．which one to adopt is thg the librarian t decide．aga any new words have not been transted to chese，and the ngua is nstructed as to ake it ipossible to attept to e foreign words without serio nfion．
vario aids for catalogg and filg
though there is no alphabet our ngua，our syste of pictorial sybolis is not without advanta．let ilstrate it by a few stances．we have a sybol standg for the word field，and by addg another sybol，representg strength，it bees a an ready for field-work；by addg field to it，i．e．，double field，it ans parin of fields；by puttg the word grass above it，we have the sybol representg gra，and on．one who sees any of these words，or sybols，providg one knows the sign for field，will have no difficulty understandg that each has thg to do with field．no doubt it was the realization of the difficulty due to the ck of an alphabet that caed our forefathers to devise the follog three vaable thods by which chese words are grouped tother．they ight be ed for filg the library．
1：natural thod．words havg siir angs are pced tother under distct heads as：heaven，earth，oulds，hills，waters，pnts，trees，sects，anials．the key to this syste is the“ready guide”，which was credited to chow kung of the chow dynasty about 1100 b．c．the present for was revised about 280 a．d．this thod ay roughly be pared with the cssified catalogs of of arican technical libraries．anyone unfailiar with the word belongg to a certa css，would be unable to e it，and its nvenience and difficulty for the avera an prevents its adoption libraries．
2：rhythic thod．a groupg of words is ade aordg to their siir tones．the nuber of tones the tong dynasty was 206，and was reduced to 160 the present for．pa wen g fu，“the treasure of good sentences” 120 vos，and pg tze pen，the“cssification of disylbles” 100 vos，are the o best aids．they have not been adopted libraries，becae of the ck of a standard phoic syste．only those who have written poetry or understand the technie of poetry ay fd the of any help．the people fro canton or sze-chuan would not be able to e either of these books，for though the written characters are the sa all parts of cha，their pronunciation varies uch different provces that the natives fd it ipossible to understand each other．
3．analytic thod． this，the arrannt is ade aordg to the radicals or keys．the nuber of radicals o bun yi，“orig of the six odes of writg”，was decreased fro 566 to 360，and was aga reduced to 214 the eperor kang hsi dictionary．any word can be ford fro 214 groups．while the ck of an alphabet caes very great nvenience，still we are fortunate possessg these radicals，for the we fd the tion of the proble of catalogg and filg of chese books．for exaple，the sybols for the words brightness，yesterday，ti，warth，and sur，have the sa root or key as the word sun，under which they are to be filed，one after the other aordg to the nuber of strokes．
oasionally a difficulty arises selectg the right radical of a word．for exaple，we have a sybol which ans unite．add the sybol for outh to it，and it ans bite．if the sybol for woan is added to it，we have the word hand．by addg the sybol for dog to it，we have ford the sybol for crafty，and on．through an nurable list， which we fd that all the words have the begng sybol for unite，but each case it is not the key．no word can be found the eperor kang hsi dictionary under the sybol for unite，but only under its ponent parts．no cross references whatever our．this is one of the defects of the dictionary pn． forg a odern catalog a chese library，there t be cross references．they are not only necessary，but essential．
catalogg the nas of chese authors we ight e the“one hundred surnas”as a guide．it is only ed cha．every boy at ten begs with this book and learns it thoroughly that he can recite it fro ory．the nas uld be filed aordg to the order which they ca，but there would arise the objection that the adult searcher would be pelled to drill his ory as to reber every na on rerd，thg that very few people are capable of dog．further nfion would be bound to arise，should the subjects and title cards be filed tother with the a author cards．the third objection to its adoption the library is that it is adeate becae there are any new nas that have not been entered to the“one hundred surnas”．
oreover，the avera chese writer does not stick to real nas．the ore he writes，the ore nuro are his pseudonys．the difficulty uld be overe，of urse，provided there were aids to assist fdg these nas．to be sure we have biographical dictionaries，but that are adeate and crude that they uld serve no purpose．to ake the chese library efficient，there is need for such help as the“dictionary of pseudonys”，“lipptt"s universal biography”or“century dictionary of proper nas” chese．
i have shown that the chese library syste is unable to et present-day needs，but that does not assu that we should give up our old syste entirely and adopt a new one．if we proceed th，we shall create an inse aount of opposition．the faire of our reforrs，who，while troducg new ideas，new theories，new systes，overlooked the fact that uch of our syste should be preserved，ay serve as a warng to every chese librarian，the good pots of our syste should be utilized，haronizg with the arican ideas．there is no one perfect pn for a whole universe．one syste，though ideal one pce，ay be found of no e another．the nearest to an ideal syste is what which suits the nditions best and serves the people ost efficiently．
adoption of the arican library syste
can the arican library syste be troduced y untry？the answer is yes，but with any odifications．even this untry，there is no abtely unifor syste the libraries．each locality has its own special needs．the library of the old pn cannot be the people"s university．the card catalog t be troduced．an adeate arrannt by css should give pce to a siple and up-to-date decial cssification．after studyg vario systes，i nsider the“dewey decial cssification”the best for our e becae of its siplicity and prehensiveness，and especially sce the chese students have learned arabic figures lvg atheatical probles．the“a．l．a subject headgs”will be of iasurable assistance to our libraries，as an aid unifyg ters．it has been y cherished desire to transte both deweyis cssification and the“a．l．a．subject headgs”to y native tongue．the catalogg syste should be siple and able， that the ordary pern ay fd the sa help as the tellint student．to lve this great proble，we need a chese dewey，and to redy the nvenience of the dexg and the catalogg，we need a dr．poole and a cutter．
should chese books be ed the library for circution，better bdgs would have to be ed and the paper necessarily would have to be of a better ality．ft paper vers would then give pce to strong cloth ones．fortunately of the publishg firs have their books published and bound sei-foreign style，but even these would not be of uch service to the library．the chese and japanese books are very th， they cannot stand on shelves， do the european books，stead they t be id ft，one on of the other．it will be a duty of the chese librarians to deand that library bdgs be ed，and that different parts of the book be bound one vo stead of the ual paphlet for．this estion of bdg and serviceability has been a strong objection to the circution of books cha．after one or o circutions，the books would return as waste paper．
travelg libraries
a agnificent arble library buildg with a r llection of books is deed a pride to a unity and an honor to a nation，but it is not a necessity cha at present．aside fro the estion of st，it would hder the ovent，becae of the people"s ignorant awe of grandeur and iposg appearances．of ost iportance is an efficient staff to carry the great cae forward．stead of waitg for the readers to e to the library，travelg libraries should be established the different localities．they can be worked out on an extensive scale，but at a retively sall st．
boone university library
order to give y readers an exaple of this pn，i call to their attention boone university library wuchang，cha．this library was established through iss ．e．wood by the gifts of arican friends．it has o departnts，with a llection of about 6000 vos the english departnt and 9000 the chese departnt．the forr is rly ade up of theological and literary books；the tter，of cssics and histories．though the llection is too sall to et all the needs of that city，the books have been well selected．at first the people did not e with the purpose to read，but fro sheer curiosity．even the students of the university were rectant to believe its efulness．any a ti the librarians were greatly disurad，and the heads of the university doubted whether the library uld ntue．gradually but steadily the students began to appreciate it and to draw out books．the work with the people the outlyg districts has al been enuragg． 1914 only three travelg libraries had been pced governnt schools，where books uld be taken out for ho e，but the nuber had grown to ten such stations，as the st year"s report shows．this is a bait．ore people will be drawn to the library when the privile is understood and the readg habit is ford．
the university extension lectures on vario ics such as“how disease is carried”，“prevention of bldness”，“ternational w and neutrality”，etc．，held the library auditoriu，have done uch advancg the library ovent．the avera attendance of these etgs is beeen four and five hundred．both before and after the lecture，the students serve as hers to nduct the audience separate groups through the library to view the arrannt and cssification of books on the shelves，and to exp the purpose of the library．ost iportant is the fence that is exerted——the seed wn the ds of these students，who will be the leaders of chese thought the renstruction period that is before ．possibly no other ancy is capable of carryg to reote parts of the untry the idea of the library as a factor of public education and progress．an stitution such as boone university library，with a llection of well selected books and up-to-date arican syste would，with the willgness of its officials to serve，prove y people"s university．
at the travelg library branches，with workable llections，boone library will have an iportant role to py troducg the arican library syste．nsiderg the progress and developnt already ade，i a full of hope that travelg libraries， char of traed assistants，ay be established the treaty-ports along the yang tze valley，an extent of one thoand iles．another step will be to work with the -called cb and subscription libraries，which will gradually develop to rr ones．then will follow the anization of provcial libraries．
the exhibits of arican library thods at the panaa exposition turned over to the chese y．．c．a．at shanghai，will be of iasurable help the future of our libraries．i learned recently that prof．robertn of the lecture departnt will e the to nduct a capaign the library ovent throughout the untry．
ti ago andrew carnegie ford a ittee with dr．eliot at its head，to vestigate the advisability of establishg a library on the arican pn the capital of cha，but unfortunately this noble idea was id aside，if not defitely postponed．has the vestigation of the liberal educator proved satisfactory，the nation would have appuded hi with a lifelong fidelity．
the present governnt is begng to regnize the iportance of the library as an educational factor and has nferred upon the writer this present schorship as a student the library school of the new york public library．one ore student will be sent next year to ntue the study of such adistration．
i have tried to show that the chese library is still the diaeval period；how the arican syste can be advantaoly adopted and how boone can be a odel of the arican library cha．it is this cae i appeal to you，the citizens of nd of libraries；to you，librarians and lovers of huanity．the eternal gratitude of a nation stands awaitg to be won！
to y people i give forth a vision i have had；the vision of a new cha here education shall be free to all；where the best books shall be avaible to all；where the history，art and science of our civilization and the civilization of the west shall be gathered to libraries and eus，and for a background for the new civilization toward which we have set our faces and our hearts．
（见1916年《the library journal》第41卷第6期）
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